Well…after finishing up working on the cabinets for the day, I thought I’d look for the hardware I need to modernize them to see what it’s going to cost…so, I looked on Amazon for the hinges and the problem with them is you have to buy either 10 pairs or 20 or more and I only need 11 of them…and the door pulls came in sets of 15 or more when I only need 13…so, I decided to look online at depot and they had nothing in stock for me to actually go out and look at…so, I tried Menards and they have the hinges and pulls in stock so I can go out and look at them to see if they are what I want…and I can buy exactly what I need since the hinges come in packs of two for 2.26 and the pulls are only 1.36 each….and I can buy one of them to fit it up and see it I like it and if it will fit the holes that are in the doors…saving me from having to re-drill all the holes for both the pulls and hinges….so, a little bit of good news for a change and it makes me want to work on the cabinets all day tomorrow….and I just might so I can get to the doors and maybe have them put back together in two weeks…but then I need to get at all of the plaster work done along with the trim and painting the kitchen…and I should order the new range hood…I can get an open package one for 40 bucks off at Amazon so I think I’ll order it tomorrow…
Tag Archives: House
Found a good car wash..
Well…damn, have been busy since 7 this morning when I got on the bike…and one of the cool things that happened was that I found a good car wash to keep the salt off the car…lots of pressure and soap but it is 2 bucks per run so it costs me 4 bucks to do a wash…and it was not busy at all with three open stalls…and they had dollar changers that worked….and it was clean and well lit so that was cool…after I got back here, I got started on the kitchen cabinets and got one set sanded and filled and then gave up since my thumb is really hurting after all of the sanding…and they were in such poor shape that I used a half a tub of filler so I’ll need to get more on the grocery run wed to finish up the kitchen…I probably won’t be ready to do the final sanding until next week since it is taking me longer than I thought…so I won’t get to painting, either, and I still haven’t even started on doors and I think that will take 10 days or so to do them…and I still need to find hardware for them since I want to use black hinges and pulls but I want to see them in person…not buy them online but depot and Menards doesn’t stock any of them…what a pain…
Going to get a lot of house stuff for the next couple of months..
Well…as you can see, I have been writing a lot about the process of rebuilding this house over the past month or so and the reason for it is that it is taking up my whole life right now and I am amazed at how half assed the repairs to it have been..just yesterday, I took apart one of the three drawers that I needed to repair as part of the kitchen rehab and that left me shaking my head…it wasn’t enough that they just nailed the drawer head on with big nails when it came loose at some point in the past…but when I removed it to see how to repair it, there was another set of nails under the head that they just pounded over and into the drawer sides so they could nail the head back on…they didn’t remove them…nope, just pounded them over so they could take the easy way out and do a half assed fix…and that fix split the drawer sides that I guess was okay with them…and since the surface the head mated to wasn’t even, when they nailed it they warped the head all out of shape…so, I removed the bent over nails and took my angle grinder with a 60 grit flap disc and smoothed the mating surfaces and the head so I could do it right and glue the head back on with wood glue and then glue and clamp the sides back together where they had been split by nails…and then I put my heavy tool box on top of it to hold it while it dried overnight and now I have a nice drawer that can be sanded and painted how it should be…I still marvel how everywhere in this house, they not once did a repair right…always taking the easy way out instead of the right way…and that makes so much more work for me….
House 8
Well….after doing another 4 hours on the house today, I can finally say that I can see progress…I did decide to do a color change on the garage door and the porch roof that came out better than the yellow I started with….and it looks more modern…I am going to leave the entry doors yellow for now but the trim around them will be the new brown that I chose for the rest of it…got the garage door and it’s surrounding trim done today and will attack the rest of the trim on the front of the garage tomorrow if my body will take it…I did get some work done on the yard in front of the house today with using the new string trimmer to clean it up some…and I whacked my left ankle a few times, too, leaving it bloody but it was worth it….even used the trimmer to take the grass down since I can’t get the mowers running…after cleaning up the weeds, I took to edging the front sidewalks since the grass had overgrown the sidewalk by 6 inches a side and looked pretty sketchy with lots of debris that I had to sweep up…and I got the weeds beside the house taken down and will need to take the spade to remove the moss that has overgrown the patio blocks…I can’t wait to get the water on and take the power washer to it…now I just need to get started on the interior so I can get the condemnation lifted as soon as the windows are done…man, I’m beat…but I know that once the rest of the hard stuff is done, it will be a cruise from there…I hope….
House 7
Well…there has been some progress on the house this week but I made a couple of mistakes that will have to be fixed…it has been so long since I worked on an old house that I forgot some of the basics of painting old wood that will need to be fixed tomorrow…tried to paint some old wood in the colors that were always on the house but forgot that you really can’t do light colors on old wood and have it look good…painted the garage door and the ceiling of the porch in light yellow and I just don’t like it…so I’ll use that paint as primer and repaint them tomorrow in the brown that I am using for the trim…and that will go well with the brown on the new windows and I think it will look pretty classy…just forgot that I can do whatever colors I want since the decisions are mine and it doesn’t need to look like it always has…should have the new roof on the house by the end of the week or early next week…laid out 6 grand Thursday for the down and that makes 7 grand so far with the thousand down on the new fence….I think I’ll get to the interior this week and get rid of all of the loose paint and get some sanding done so I can paint later in the week…need to get an extender for the paint roller since there are places over the stairs that I can’t reach and you can’t put a ladder there safely…going to just take the light fixtures out of the closets since I can’t find pull chain ones that meet code…I’ll just cover the boxes with covers and put a couple of battery powered led lights in there…then put the original fixtures back in once he approves it and leaves me the hell alone…should have the new windows in sometime in August and I need to have everything else done by then so I can get the water turned back on…so, it’s go time for me…
House 6
Well…finally made some visible progress on the house yesterday and got the garage door painted after spending a couple of hours removing the flaking paint…the color I chose may be a little too yellow but that is the original color of the house and I am taking it back to those colors….I also got the chainsaw work done…after having the chain come off the first one and having no tools to put it back on, I had to run all the way back to the south end to get a replacement to finish the job…I did get the last section of fence removed and most of the stumps cut out but I still need to chop the rest of them out since they grew right next to the retaining wall and were too close to get the saw in to cut them…so, I’ll get a hatchet next week and finish it up…the fence guys won’t be there for 6 weeks or so so I have plenty of time to get that done…I did buy a new string trimmer to use at the house for 39 bucks and with the problems I’m having keeping the gas mowers running, I may buy an electric since they are cheap at 89 bucks…and the lawn is so small that, even with a small electric, it can be cut in less than a half hour…I’m taking the day off today after beating the heck out of myself yesterday but will be back at scraping more paint tomorrow and filling the voids on the ceiling of the front porch so I can paint that Friday…and then I can start on the interior next week while I wait for the roof and windows to be done…which should be completed by the end of August and then I can get the water turned back on….and then take the power washer to everything and clean things up…still on track to have it ready for move in at the end of my lease…or earlier….
House 5
Well…the house made it a busy day today with lots of running around to get ready to start painting…I did have to take the sawzall back to HF since the blade release lever broke but I didn’t really need it anymore after cutting the pipes so maybe that was not a bad thing…tomorrow is going to be chainsaw day getting rid of the stumps in the fence line but I don’t think that will take all day so I’ll probably get into exterior prep for painting after I get that done…I did get everything I need for painting from HF and I bought a small wet/dry vac that will help with interior clean up when I get to that…I will need to use that on my trunk tomorrow since the cement bag leaked all over my trunk and I do need to clean that out….went out and got the exterior paint, too, only needed two gallons but even with cheap Glidden paint, it was still over 60 bucks for that and another 60 for all of the paint brushes, tape, wire brushes, gloves, and the rest so the bucks are adding up fast. One thing that irritated me some is the contractor who I selected to do the roof and windows appears to have decided to not do the job so I will need to start the bidding process over again to try to find someone who will meet that cost…I wonder if that is a thing now…that contractors are so flighty that they do a quote and then just ignore your e-mails? That took me two weeks last time but I don’t have the time to do that again…will have to think about that over the next few days and figure out what I need to do….
House 4…
Well…have been so damn exhausted all day today that I had to take the day off from working on the house…I did get the fence contract signed and delivered and will be sending the check tomorrow….and I’ve made the decision on who to use for the roofing and windows and will get that contract signed Monday and that makes all the heavy lifting almost done…and for a better price than I expected so that makes me happy. I do still need to rent a chainsaw to prep the ground for the new fence but I’m not going to do it in the dangerous heat tomorrow…there is plenty of time since the fence is about 4 weeks out…the roof should get done next week, though, so I need to get the last of the cleanup done so I can put the trash in the dumpster that they will have there for the roofing material that is being taken off……so, I’m taking the weekend off to rest and recover and try to get some sleep…these days of 4-5 hours of sleep are killing me…and only having one brat for food for the entire day is not good either….
House 3…
Well…just got back from the house where I wasn’t going to go today…I was supposed to just hit Harbor Freight to buy a cheap sawzall, a 100 foot extension cord, and some hacksaw blades to fit it…but, you know me, when there are new toys to use, I have to use them so I went over to try to cut the posts off the top of the retaining wall. To my utter surprise, the 20 buck saw did a good job and I got all of the posts down except one since it started to pour and the outlet in the garage is not GFI and I didn’t want to get electrocuted…and it only took 3 blades to take down 8 of them which was pretty cool. I had to measure the rooms to do the calculations for necessary ventilation and it looks like I only have to do 4 windows to meet the reqs so that is cool…but doing the roof and the windows is going to cost almost 15K and that is a little shocking…I do have another roofer and two more window guys coming tomorrow for estimates but I guess the days of 3K roofs is long gone….I did have a thought on the way home that I think I’m going to try to use the sawzall to cut out the stumps along the fenceline instead of spending 40 bucks on renting a chainsaw…will try that later this week but I need to get wood cutting blades first so another run to HF is in order. Still making progress….oh, I did find out that my son has a power washer that he will let me borrow as soon as I get the water turned back on next week and that will make getting rid of some of the loose paint a lot easier…
House 2…
Well…took the weekend off working on the house since the inspector is coming tomorrow to clarify what I need to do to get the water turned back on and I needed some rest with being a little sore from heavy manual labor….the last of the heavy work will happen this week with getting the back yard ready for the new fence install by taking out a couple of stumps, leftover fence, and getting the weeds cleared around the retaining wall. I am going to buy a cheap sawzall at Harbor Freight to cut off some steel fence posts that are cemented into the top of the wall and I hope I can cut those off without too much trouble…have to buy some hacksaw blades for it and for 20 bucks, if I can get the 8 posts cut off I can throw it in the trash after that….then I need the rental chainsaw to get the stumps out and do the rest of the cleanup…after that it will just be painting and cleaning up the yard but that won’t be too taxing…but, tomorrow it’s just meeting with the inspector, another fence guy, and a window guy for more estimates…will probably have to have a roof put on the house, too but that is about 7 grand and I would prefer to not spend that right now…still hoping to get out for under 10 grand…